Foundation Executive Breaks Through the Confines of Conventional Philanthropy

It is unusual to find social entrepreneurs in conventional foundations. But that is what Bill Somerville has achieved at his San Francisco based Philanthropic Ventures Foundation.

Somerville and his staff defy the usual foundation behaviors and have managed to get rid of most paperwork, leave their offices and actually talk to people in the community, forge new models of giving, and shorten the time from asking to giving dramatically. A believer in how small amounts of help can turn around lives, Somerville's organization specializes in paperless discretionary grants and grants with a forty-eight-hour turnaround.

Now Somerville has written a wonderful little book that details his foundation's experiences and how they have emerged from stacks of paperwork and long wait times for grant approvals. Grassroots Philanthropy: Field Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker is a roadmap to more efficient and human-scale philanthropy.

• Grassroots Philanthropy: How to Make Grants to People, Not Organizations